This invention relates generally to a system and method for providing audio data that has been equalized and in particular to a system and method for providing equalized audio data from a piece of media.
It is well known that it is desirable to be able to equalize audio data prior to listening to the audio data. Every stereo system, including some portable systems as well as professional stereo systems typically has an equalizer to equalize the audio data. An equalizer typically will adjust the energy levels of the audio data in one or more different frequency bands in order to change the characteristics of the audio data. For example, the equalizer may adjust the audio data to concentrate more of the audio data into the middle frequency range which is more perceptible to more people. An equalizer may also be used to add more audio energy to the lower frequency bands which will then provide more bass sounds. Thus, an equalizer may be used to adjust the relative sound energy of the audio data at one or more different frequencies as is well known. A typical equalizer may have 20 different frequency bands. The level of adjustment for each frequency band is controlled by a equalizer setting so that, for the 20 band equalizer, there may be 20 equalizer settings.
Typically, an audio system may receive typical audio data. A hardware equalizer within the audio system may then adjust the sound energy of the audio data as described above. The equalizer may generate equalized audio data that may then be converted into analog data so that sound may be generated by a sound generating device, such as a speaker or headphone. Thus, in a typical system, it is necessary to have an equalizer unit, whether built into an audio system or a separate stand-alone unit, in order to adjust the audio data. The problem is that some new technology does not have an equalizer due to size or other constraints. Therefore, for these newer technologies, such as a digital audio data player, it would be desirable to provide some mechanism to provide equalized audio data, whether analog or digital, to these newer devices that do not typically have equalizer capabilities. Thus, it is desirable to provide an equalizer system and method that provides equalized audio data and it is to this end that the present invention is directed.
The invention overcomes the above problems and limitations with typical systems. For example, the invention permits a hardware device, such as a portable MP3 player, that does not have an equalizer to generate and play equalized audio data. The invention also permits the equalization levels for a particular track/song or piece of media to be preset so that an external equalizer may generate consistent equalized audio data using the invention. In accordance with the invention, the invention may be implemented on a piece of media that stores digital data, such as a compact disk or the like. In a preferred embodiment, the piece of media is a CD and the digital data is audio data, such as tracks/songs, that is equalized using the equalizer settings that are stored on the piece of media. The audio CD in the preferred embodiment may be in the CD-DA format (Red Book format). In different embodiments, the equalizer settings may be stored in the lead in area of the piece of media, in the program area of the piece of media or as data at the end of the tracks of the piece of media.
Thus, in accordance with the invention, a piece of media having equalizer effects is provided wherein the media has one or more pieces of data stored thereon. The data further comprises a plurality of digital samples of audio data, and one or more equalizer settings so that the audio samples are equalized when the audio data is played. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method for generating a piece of media having equalizer effects is provided. The method comprises storing a plurality of digital samples of audio data onto a piece of media, and storing one or more equalizer settings onto the piece of media so that the audio data is equalized when it is played.